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CONCISE HISTORY 



OP 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 



i^ t lU 



Br HENRY McGUIER. 



ALBANY: 4 

PRINTING HOUSE OF C. VAN BENTHCY^EN A; 80N8. 
1868. 






HIGH ROCK CONGRESS SPRING. 



The proprietors of this Fountain have adopted the following 
TARIFF OF PRICES: 



JlT SARATOGA. 

Pints, per dozen $2 00 

Quarts, " 3 00 

Orders at Saratoga embracing 
one gross or more- 

Pints, per dozen $1 75 

Quarts, '' 2 50 



AT NEW YORK. 

Pints, per dozen $2 25 

Quarts, •' 3 50 

Orders at New York embracing 
one gross or more. 

Pints, per dozen $2 00 

Quarts, " 3 00 



This water is put up in cases containing two, four, five and six 
dozen pints, and two, three and four dozen quarts. 



C:?* Southern Depot for the sale of this water, Nos. 542 and 544 
Broadway, New York. 



NATURAL HISTORY 

OF THE 

MINERAL FOUNTAINS OF SARATOGA. 



" "Whence the origin of your mineral springs?" 

This is a question often propounded to us by persons both of 
aur own and other countries, who visit our world-famed watering 
place. And, undoubtedly^ to those who have not made the com- 
plex operations of nature their study, there is very much of 
mystery connected with this matter. Nor, indeed, is there suffi- 
cient reason why our astonishment should be excited at this fact; 
for, amid the eternal activities of nature, and the illimitable 
resources from which she draws so largely for the production of 
her varied and ever varying phenomena, which "' amid ceaseless 
changes seeks the unchanging pole," the naturalist, alone, finds 
in the laborious study and contemplation of those phenomena, a 
certainty which admits of no question, and a reward, the munifi- 
cence of which baffles the skill of the mathematician in his attempts 
at computation. Nor, indeed, are any of her works so insignifi- 
cant (if that be not a profanation) as not to demand his most 
serious and careful consideration. 

That the reader may be enabled fully to understand the facts 
bearing upon this subject, it seems necessary to state, succinctly, 
t,he geological character of this locality. 

Immediately upon the north of the village of Saratoga Springs, 
and within about three miles, we have the metamorphic rocks 
(the Taconic system of Emmons and the " Quebec group" of the 
Canadian survey) in mountainous ridges; traversed diagonally 



4 HISTORY OF 

by basaltic dikes, and at right angles, or nearly so, by thin thread 
like veins of a subsequently formed granite, showing thereby, fre 
quent and extensive occurrences of volcanic activity. 

Superimposed upon its southern slope reposes the ' Potsdam 
sand stone" of Emmons, and No. 1 in the ascending series of th© 
New York and Silnrean systems, with a dip to the southeast, 
varying from five to twenty degrees, and in transitu. Resting^ 
upon the Potsdam sandstone is the " Calciferous sandrock" of 
Eaton, No. 2 of the above systems, with a dip corresponding 
with the preceding, as to amount and direction. This rock em- 
braces, at this point, an area of about four square miles, and if 
bounded on the south and east by the valley in which our min 
eral fountains are developed. The "Trenton limestone," No. 3 
(and by this designation I refer to the Chazy, Bird's eye, Black 
river and Trenton limestones) is well developed upon our south 
west, about three miles distant, and loaded with its characteristic 
fossils, occupying a horizontal position and in situ. Directly upon 
our south and east is developed the " Black" or " Utica slate" of 
Vanuxem, No. 4 of the above systems, overlaying the limestone^ 
having its strata also horizontal. 

Now, if we leave the railroad depot at this point, and pass 
south along the line of the track for the distance of about two 
miles, we shall pass from the tilted up surface of number two, 
directly on to the horizontal surface of number four, without 
deviating perceptibly from a horizontal line, thereby exhibiting 
the existence of & fault or fracture in the rocks; and the tilted 
up and fragmentary condition of the rocks upon the north of it, 
showing that they must have been broken off and thrust upward 
the whole thickness of numbers three and four, estimated at about 
half a mile. 

It is conceded that if the strata of numbers two and four of 
this system, at this point, had the same dip throughout, it would 
be difficult to determine the existence of a fault, for the rocks 
might " over-lap;" but it occurs to find, in several localities, upon 
the north and west side of the valley, patches of the lowest por- 
tion of the Trenton limestone, superimposed upon the calciferous 
sandrock and having the same dip, but occupying a higher level 
than the uppermost portion of the same rock, just across the val- 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 

'ey ; while upon the opposite side of the f.iult, where it occurs in 
vlace, and is well developed, the strata are perfectly horizontal; 
a fact which could not exist had there been no displacement. 

If this bird's-eye view of the geology of our locality be borne 
In mind, the reader will be enabled to comprehend the applica- 
bility, or otherwise, to our present subject, of conclusions based 
upon the existence of such fault. 

Two theories have been advanced by which to explain or 
account for the origin of the mineral constituents of our springs, 
to wit : 

1st. The solvent action of the water on the rocks, and their 
imbedded minerals, over or through which it passes. 

2d. The sublimation or consolidation of the various gases 
thrown off by the internal fires of the earth, upon coming into 
contact with veins or bodies of pure water. 

From the universally recognized solvent property of water, in 
its action upon the rocks, especially the calcareous and argilla- 
ceous, as well as upon many of their imbedded minerals, and its 
mechanical power of suspension exerted upon some of their con- 
stituents, the opinion has very generally obtained that most, if 
not all, mineral waters are produced in this manner; and the 
more especially when, as it sometimes happens, a powerful chemi- 
cal agent, in the form of a gas of some kind or other, is present 
to aid in the production of such a result. Nor has this opinion 
failed to find adherents among those who class themselves with 
the scientific few. And perhaps, indeed, there is some truth 
upon which to base such an opinion; for, from the extensive dis- 
semination of the various acids in a gaseous form, and the greater 
facility with which water is thereby enabled to erode the rocks 
subjected to its action, and the consequent increased amount of 
mineral matter found in such waters," seems to warrant something 
like such a conclusion. And yet the condition under which such 
waters occur, must not be lost sight of The sulphur watersof 
the Hudson river valley, extending north and south a distance of 
at least 150 miles, with a width of some twelve or fifteen miles, 
developed in the " Black slate," (No. 4,) and depositing their 
sulphur upon coming into contact with the atmosphere, will not, I 
think, be attributed to a similar source as that from whence our 



D HISTORY OP 

mineral waters r.re derived; for if we examine the slate we shall 
find it abundantly charged with the sulphuret of iron by which 
the phenomena of these sulphur waters may be reasonably ex- 
plained. But even in this respect the rule is not persistent, eithei 
in relation to the origin of the sulphureted hydrogen gas, or the 
mineral constituents of waters charged with such gas. 

Professor Lewis C Beck, chemist of the New York State 
Geological Survey, in speaking of the sulphur waters of Monroe 
and Genesee counties, says: " To show how abundantly sulphu- 
reted hydrogen is evolved in this district, it is only necessary to 
notice the Caledonia springs in the town of "Wheatland, where a 
large volume of water gushes out of the earth, forming a stream 
nearly one-quarter the size of the Geensee river at Rochester, 
and so sour as to char the vegetable matter over which it flows." 

Of the various sulphur springs in Genesee county, he says of 
a single locality: " There is another locality of a similar kind a 
hundred rods west ot Byron hotel, and two miles east of the for- 
mer," (one previously noticed,") "which is remarkable, in conse- 
quence of the great quantity of acid. It is a spring which arises 
from the earth, in sutficient quantity to turn a light grist-mill. 
Such an immense laboratory of sulphuric acid is here conducted 
by nature, that the water which supplies this perennial stream 
possesses acidity enough to give the common test with violets, and 
to coagulate milk." 

" It was my intention to have added to this general view of the 
sulphureted waters of our State, some remarks concerning the 
origin of the sulphureted hydrogen gas thus largely evolved; but 
I have only space to repeat what has already been suggested, 
that the cause ordinarily assigned, viz: the decomposition of the 
sulphuret of iron, seems to me to be whr>lly inadequate, and that 
we must refer it to some agency far more general and eflfective.^ 

An argument which we consider conclusive, is found in the faCt 
that the sand rock, number two, and the black slate, number four, 
do not contain chloride of sodium, magnesia, soda or iodine, and 
especially iodine, which is never found in the rocks. And among 
the altered sediments of the '' Quebec group," (7,500 feet thick,) 
no one has ever thought of looking for rock salt; consequently 
the advocates of the solvent theory will be driven to look some- 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 7 

where else for those ingredients of our mineral waters. Nor is it 
true, so far as our observation extends, or upon the authority of 
others, that water passing over or through lime rock ever liberates 
carbonic acid gas in quantities sufficient to exhibit its presence by 
its passage through, or escape from such waters. And an import- 
ant tact to be remembered in regard to the sulphur Avaters of the 
Hudson river valley, above alluded to, formed by solution, is, that 
they do not exhibit the least ebullition from the escape of the 
sulphureted hydrogen gas, but which is sufficient to impart its 
odor to the atmosphere for a considerable distance. 

But we have actual demonstration; for within one hundred and 
fifty yards of one of our most remarkable mineral springs we have, 
issuing from the same rock, of precisely the same temperature, z 
copious flow of pure fresh water. It therefore remains for the 
advocates of the solvent theory to reconcile this obvious " incon- 
sistency with itself." 

In examining the second theory, three questions very naturally 
suggest themselves, viz: 

Are the saline ingredients found in our water produced by tha 
process of sublimation of gases thrown off by the internal fires of 
the earth, any where in nature? 

Are waters ever charged with mineral constituents by such 
process? 

Are the conditions of the geological formations at Saratoga 
favorable to the development of those elemental gases? 

"We find in our mineral waters chloride of sodium, forming 
about one-half their mineral constituents. Of which mineral 
Humboldt says: "The vapors that rise from the fumarolles" 
(small volcanic vents) '' cause the sublimation of the chlorides of 
iron, copper, lead and ammonium; iron glance and the chloride 
of sodium (the latter often in large quantities) fill the cavities of 
recent lava streams and the fissure of the crater." (The chlorides 
of sodium, iron glance, sulphur, and indeed some fifteen or 
twenty different metals and minerals are being formed upon the 
inner surfaces of the cones of the craters of Etna and Vesuvius, 
when not in a state of eruption, by the sublimation or consolida- 
tion of the gases emitted by the internal fires of the earth, through 



8 HISTORY OP 

those avenues In fact the rocks,, and all the solid substances of 
the crust of the globe, and even water itself, owe their origin to 
the process we are now considering.) And hence we may very 
pertinently ask whence the salt in sea-waterl If we are answered 
from solution, we reply that the origin of fossil salt is not sug- 
gested by such an answer; and because the cause is not adequate 
to the effect. It must be remembered that we have thousands of 
cubic miles of sea- water, and there are no known deposits of salt 
of sufficient capacity, in the aggregate, to supply such an enor- 
mous demand. But even if this were so, water, in no condition 
whatever (if as in the ocean that condition be permanent), can 
receive its saline ingredients by solution, and again deposit them; 
for the principle which causes the water to deposit the salt, would 
prevent it from taking it up in the first place. The Mediterra 
nean is depositing crystals of salt on some parts of its bottom, at 
present. Lake Oorooraiah, in Persia, has deposited upon its bot- 
tom permanent alternating layers of salt and sand, a specimen of 
which water, examined in 1844, was found to contain about one- 
quarter part of solid salts. The waters of Lake Elton, in Asiatic 
Russia, and other lakes adjoining the Caspian sea, have deposited 
thick beds of rock salt at their bottom. The same is true of 
Lake Indersk, on the Steppes of Siberia. (Daubeny on Thermal 
and Mineral Waters, lire's Geology.) And we find the process 
going forward in the great Salt Lake of Utah. Now, as solution 
is incompetent to impart to water the power to deposit salt, we 
are compelled to look to some other source for the salt contained 
in those waters which do deposit it at their bottom. 

It may possibly be objected, that we have treated of a single 
one of the ingredients of our waters only. We reply, that all of 
the other constituents, even to iodine, are found in sea- water; and 
if the greater has its origin in the process of sublimation, it seems 
to us very rational to suppose that the less, existing in the same 
combination, should have its origin in the same cause. 

In relation to the second inquiry, \'iz -. Are waters ever 
charged with their mineral contents by the process of sublima- 
tion? "We answer, unhesitatingly, yea; for it must be obvious to 
all, that if, as we have shown is true, those gases do sublimate or 
resolve themselves into solid compounds upon coming into contact 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 9 

with the atmosphere, they most assuredly will upon coming iato 
contact with a denser medium. But happily for us, this position 
is not unsupported by very high authority. President Hitchcock 
in quoting Prof. Daubeny upon this subject, says: " When these 
fprings" (thermal — which is the character of our springs) ''occur 
in volcanic districts, their origin is very obvious. The water 
which percolates into the crevices of the strata becomes heated by 
the volcanic furnace below, and impregnated with salts and gases 
by the sublimation of matter from the same focus." 

Dr. Daubeny has shown that "thermal springs not in volcanic 
districts, in a large majority of cases, rise either from the vicinity 
of some uplifted chain of mountains, or from clefts and fissures 
caused by the disruption of the strata; and are, therefore, in all 
cases, probably the result of deep seated volcanic agency, which 
may have long been in a quiescent state." 

Humboldt says, " "We see issue from the ground, steam and 
gaseous carbonic acid, carbureted hydrogen gas and sulphurous 
vapors. Such effusions from the fissures of the earth not only 
occur in districts of still burning or long extinct volcanoes, but 
they may likewise be observed occasionally in districts where 
neither trachyte or any other volcanic rocks are exposed on the 
earth's surface. • • • t^^q ^qq in Germany, in the deep val- 
ley of the Eifel, in the neighborhood of the lake of Laach, in the 
crater-like valley of the Wehr and in western Bohemia, exhala- 
tions of carbonic acid gas manifest themselves as the last efforts 
of volcanic activity in or near the foci of an earlier world." 

Now, if we revert to the geologic epitome presented by us in 
the outset, we shall discover that we are in the immediate 
'' vicinity of some uplifted chain of mountains ;" that Nos. 1 and 2 
of the New York and Silurean systems are made to assume a 
parallelism with the southern slope of the mountains upon our 
north, i. e. having a dip of about 20 degrees, and in some instances 
as at the Empire Spring, of full 45 degrees, and which necessarily 
Implies a disruption of the strata, unless they were in a plastic 
etate at the time of the application of the disturbing force; an 
Wea readily dissipated, when we remember that Nos. 3 and 4 of 
the above systems occupy a horizontal position, and that the sur- 
Cftce of No. 2 is on a level with the surface of No. 4, thereby 



10 HISTORY OF 

clearly indicating the fact that Nos. 1 and 2 have not only beei 
broken off but actually thrust upward, the entire thickness of 
Uos. 3 and 4 of our system; and unless there is a wide vacuity 
between the Pleutonic rocks on the one hand, and the lower sedi- 
mentary rocks on the other (an impossibility) , this fault or fissurt 
extends, necessarily, to the internal fires of the earth, and all th* 
conditions competent to explain the phenomena of our mineral 
waters by the method we are now considering is. in my judgment 
fully established. 

And here we submit, that as an avenue is opened at this point 
(as we have already abundantly shown), through which the gases 
from tho internal fires of the earth can escape, which are nou 
producing chloride of sodium (common salt) in other localities 
that it is quite as philosophical, to say the least, to attribute it» 
existence in our mineral waters to that cause as to any secon 
dary source; and the more especially, as such secondary source 
can not be shown to exist in this vicinity ; unless, indeed, it b« 
demonstrated that the operations of nature are not persistent. 

And in this connection (we may say without incurring tho 
charge of egotism) it is certainly gratifying to know that tho 
views above expressed have received the endorsement of Prot 
Joseph He»ey of the Smithsonian Institute, not only by placing 
a manuscript copy of the same in the archives of that institution 
but also by suggesting the idea of giving it publicity in this popu 
lar form. 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 11 



ORIGIN AND AGE OF HIGH ROCK. 



The material of which this rock is composed is principally 
impure lime, and is chiefly derived by the water from the loose 
earthy materials laying upon the rock out of which it issues. 
This material is quite different from anything originally found in 
the water, and is retained in it by a mechanical instead of a 
chemical force, and consequently, upon its coming into contact 
with the atmosphere, and losing much of its activity, it deposits 
all those materials which have combined with it in its passage 
from the rocky orifice to the surface, in the form of a stony mass, 
denominated tufa. This is the origin, and such the substance 
forming that singular phenomenon known as the " High Rock." 

In all the operations of Nature everywhere, she has left the 
evidences of some method by which to determine the successive 
stages of progressive developmeat and perfection, in all her varied 
creations. The geologist finds, in the rocks, unquestionable evi- 
dences of the stately steppings of the creative energy, and by 
their organic reliquae or imbeded petrifactions is enabled to deter- 
mine the comparative remoteness or nearness of the system he is 
studying. So, too, the botanist finds in the towering giant of the 
forest the annular rings of its growth, and he is thereby enabled 
to trace its history far backward, and perhaps prior to the com- 
mencement of his own brief existence. And the paleontologist, 
by comparing one specimen with another, is enabled to determine 
the mature from those which are immature; and so throughout. 

The application of this law then, to any subject of natural his- 
tory to which our attention may be called, will enable us to arrive, 
approximately at least, at the truth, whenever we endeavor to 
trace backward to the commencement of their operations, those 
causes which have been instrumental in producing it. 

Taking this law for our guide, then, let us determine, if possi- 
ble, the age of the Hion Rock. 



12 HISTORY OP 

In deacendlng from the surface at this point, seven feet of com- 
mingled muck and tufa (rocky matter formed by the water) was 
passed through, then a stratum or layer of tufa two feet thick, a 
stratum of muck, and then a stratum of tufa three feet thick. 

In determining the time requisite to deposit the five feet of 
tufa, I caused a specimen of the tufa to be ground down smooth, 
and at right angles to the lines of deposit, so as to be enabled to 
count the lines with accuracy, of annual deposit — as the vicissi- 
tudes of our climate determine those lines, for when frozen, as in 
our winter, the water makes no deposit — I found twenty-five such 
lines embraced within a single inch, and as there are sixty inches 
in the aggregate, a very simple computation shows that one thou- 
sand five hundred years were consumed in depositing these layers 
of tufa alone; and this tufa, it must be remembered, was deposited 
from standing water, or with but very little motion, as the tufa 
occupies a horizontal position. 

Laying upon the stratum of tufa three feet thick, and in the 
stratum of muck superimposed upon it, was found a pine tree, 
the annular rings of which I counted to the number of onp hun- 
dred and thirty; this sum added to the above, and we have the 
further sum of one thousand six hundred and thirty years. And 
from the foregoing data I deem it a moderate approximation to 
claim four hundred years as the requisite time in which to deposit 
the seven feet of superincumbent muck and tufa, which gives the 
still further sum of two thousand and thirty years. 

The facts which add strength to the foregoing conclusions, and 
lend thrilling interest to this subject, are the evidences which are 
found at this depth from the surface, that this level was once 
occupied by human beings. Here the extinguished fire, marks 
unmistakably the gathering place of the family group, many 
centuries ago. And here, too, linger the "■ foot prints" of a long 
gone race, as if loth to leave a spot once so cherished, and around 
which clustered so many pleasing recollections. 

The reader will observe that the above estimate does not include 
the rock or cone of the spring, but simply the intermediate strata 
between the cone and the deposits below. To determine the 
length of time requisite to form the cone or rock of the spring, 
it became necessary to visit a locality where the water, which is 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 13 

dOTv depositing tufa, has a velocity similar to that which the water 
must have had from which the rock of the High Rock Spring was 
deposited. Accordingly, resort was had to such a locality, and 
it was found that five of the annual strata thus deposited occupied 
the space of one -sixteenth of an inch — thus requiring eighty 
years to perfect one inch; .and as the cone of the High Rock is 
four feet in height, it must have required three thousand eight 
hundred and forty years to have formed the cone. And in the 
aggregate, five thousand eight hundred and seventy years (some 
eminent scientists who have had their attention drawn to this 
.ubject, estimate its age at even more than this,) must have been 
consumed ia the formation of the High Rock Spring. 



14 HISTORY OP 



CHRONOLOGY OF HIGH ROCK. 



Away down amid the nnnumbered decades of centuries, em 
bosomed in the depths of a primeval forest, whose stillness wai 
unbroken save by the stealthy tread of Nature's own sons, or th© 
flocks which she had so munificently provided for them ; in a val 
ley of surpassing wildnesa and beauty; in the land of a republi* 
the most beneficent, perfect and enduring the world ever saw 
(and but for the destructive advance of the pale-faced invaders 
would have been perpetual), the Great Spirit Sire, in view of the 
wants of the brave, guileless, magnanimous red man, smote for 
him the rock, and, at the omnipotent behest, up leaped the foun- 
tain, limpid as the " kohinoor," and more priceless than the goldei 
wedge of Ophir. No wonder, then, that the red child of nature 
—————— " whose untutored mind 

Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind," 

should bring hither his sick ones, or meet in annual conrocatiov 
to pay his devotions, from a heart unsullied by guile and uncon 
laminated by the cold hypocrisy of later times. And no wondet 
that the Great Spirit Father, pleased with his offering, should! 
determine to embellish with a vase of incomparable beauty and 
symmetry, the red man's pool of Siloam. 

Having glanced, in the preceding pages, at the natural historj 
of the minora! springs of Saratoga, we shall now attempt a chro 
nological history of the great, and indeed only spring, at this 
point, known to the inhabitants, whether savage or civilized, foi 
long periods of time; and the only one for which nature ever pre 
pared and garnished with her own hands, a channel through 
which it might be presented to the invalid sufferer without invok- 
ing any artistic interference whatever. Hence nature has indi- 
cated this one as her favorite jef d'eau ; her chosen alma mater. 
The only one upon which she has left her own unerring, enduring 
impress. 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 15 

Its history, running through several centuries, is repiete with 
stirring events; surrounded by mythical legends, garlanded with 
oriental metaphors, and embellished with all the high-wrought 
fiction so characteristic of the Six Nations. It tells of battles 
fought and won and lost. It tells of a "proud and powerful 
republic;'-' its commencement, its growth, its advantages, and its 
strength. It tells of levees, held annually, around the pool of 
''sweet waters'^ to please the Great Spirit. And, alas! it also 
tells of the broken-hearted red man wrapping his blanket around 
him, taking his last sad farewell look at the spring which the 
Great Spirit gave him, and departing dejectedly and forever, to 
other hunting grounds, far away towards sundown. 

It is unquestionably true that centuries ago, and long before 
any of the Caucasian race ever dreamed that such a continent 
as the American had been thrust up from beneath the waters of 
Ihe turbulent Atlantic, or in fact existed any where, the aborigi- 
nes congregated around the High Rock fountain and appropriated 
to themselves the advantages which it proffered. The evidences 
which exist confirmatory of this view, although not numerous, 
ftre most striking and decisive. 

Beneath the surface of the valley in which this fountain is 
situated, as it exists to-day, and at the depth of about twelve 
feet, was discovered an ancient fire-place. The filling up of the 
intermediate space (by natural processes) between it and the 
present surface, could not have consumed less than two thousand 
years; and if to this we add the time requsite to produce the 
rock or cone, as we now find it, we shall have more than five thou- 
aand years of intervening time between the period when the 
builders of that ancient fire-place sported in festive glee, or prac- 
ticed their epicurean skill, or celebrated their victories of the 
<hase and the foray, or, perhaps, planned their deeds of warfare 
dnd aggression, around this time-honored fountain; and by the 
light and heat of this primeval representative of a modern pala- 
tial hotel, fared sumptuously upon the avails of the field and the 
wdr-path, and the time when it came to the hands of its present 
proprietors. 

Human advancement, all experience tells us, is extremely 
tardy, and this is true, whether in the Stone Jlge, or in the pre- 



16 HISTORY OF 

sent age — the Iron Jge. In the implements which the red mai- 
has left, scattered profusely all over this region, we find evi 
dences of the rudest condition of the race, and also of a high > 
degree of advancement upon that condition. 

From implements of the most rude and uncouth character ever 
required or used by uncultured men, to the most perfectly finished 
axe, hatchet, javelin, amulets, personal ornaments, war-club with . 
its nicely carved wolfs head, and various domestic utensils, mado i 
from stone, so hard that with all our boasted superiority over the 
red race, we are still unable to comprehend by what process they 
performed feats of skill which confound and bewilder our most 
astute lapidaries; and in this respect exhibiting a lapse of time 
quite as astonishing as that presented by the geological indications 
above referred to. 

The language, too, of the aneient inhabitants of this spot 
which was but an almost unintelligible jargon once, has arisen, 
through long periods of time, to the dignity of written signs as 
expressive of ideas, and hence we find many of their more finished 
implements bearing evident markings of characters giving tangi 
bility to thoughts, or recording the progress of time; and thus o» i 
until it stands out in the full proportions of a written history. 

Having thus emerged from what has generally been considered ! 
the dim, shadowy and unreliable domain of legend and tradition 
we now approach the more certain and reliable historic region o^ ! 
civilized life; and essay to cull and write out its teachings in rela 
tion to a subject which has excited the attention and admiration ' 
of the world. 

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the red man was ii i 
quiet, peaceful possession of that portion of the domain of the Si? i 
^\ations, known in aftertimes as the "Patent of Kayaderosseras.' ' 
In 1703, the authorities under the British crown gave perrais 
sion to certain persons to purchase from the Mohawks, one of thu i 
tribes of the republic known as the Six Nations, the tract of I 
country of which that patent or grant is composed. In 1704 the i 
title was perfected. So secretly was this title obtained, and sci 
quietly held, that many years elapsed before the entire nation of I 
Mohawks (Mohocks) became aware of their loss. Upon its dis 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 17 

covery, many were the complaints made to Sir "Wiiiiim Johnson, 
until at length in August, 1768, a meeting of the agents of the 
patentees and the chiefs of the Mohocks took place. " The 
Mohocks [says Sir "William Johnson], who, on examining the deed 
*nd survey, and receiving a handsome sum of money, were at length 
prevailed on to yield their claim to the patentees in ray presence." 

Just one year previous to the occurrence above narrated, on a 
beautiful day in August, four stalwart Indians might have been 
seen bearing upon their shoulders a liiter, upon which was repos- 
ing an invalid pale face — the friend of the red man — in the person 
of Sir William Johnson, the cortege headed by one McDonald. 
<,He stated this fact to Mr. G. M. Davison in 1819.) They had 
brought their enfeebled " olive tree'' to their own Siloam, and he 
vas healed — but for them it was a costly offering upon the altar 
\i friendship. 

From this time forward, the fame of this wonderful natural 
♦reduction spread over the land, and another incentive was pre- 
sented to stimulate the cupidity of the white race to make still 
^rther aggressions upon the home of the " poor Indian," which 
iggressions have continued until at last no single representative 
»f that once proud and powerful people remains as an occupant 
of their once happy homes; but they either roam as wanderers, 
•r are gathered to their fathers to occupy more peaceful hunting 
pounds upon which no aggression is permitted. 

On Friday, February 22, 1771, the patent of Kayaderosseras 
was partitioned by ballot. And lot number twelve of the six- 
teenth general allotment, on which lot the High Rock Spring is 
situated, by such balloting, came into possession of Rip Van 
Dam. This is the first individual white man who ever exercised 
any possessory jurisdiction over this spring. Dying soon after, 
(lis executors sold the same to Isaac Low, Jacob Walton and 
Anthony Van Dam. Low was attainted for treason by the Legis- 
lature of New York, October 1, 1779, and Henry Livingston, upon 
the sale of Low's portion of the lot, purchased the same for him- 
aelf and several of his brothers. The property or lot was again 
divided in 1793. At this time it was held by Henry Walton, 
Henry Livingston and Anthony Van Dam. Walton then pur- 
chased Van Dam's portion of the property. 



18 HISTORY OF 

In 1826, Mr. John H. White, a step-son of Dr. Clarke, o 
behalf of Mrs. Clarke and the heirs, purchased of the executoi 
of Henry "Walton the remaining portion of the High Rock^ aa^ 
they thus became possessed of the entire property. 

In 1864, William B. White, who succeeded Dr. Clarke in tht 
control and management of the Congress Spring, died, and soo» 
after it passed into other hands, and the necessity for the longei 
retention of this, to them entirely unproductive property, ceased 
to exist; and in 1865, Messrs. Ainsworth and McCaffrey became 
the owners of this prodigy of nature. 

These gentlemen soon after commenced a series of improve 
ments which have resulted most advantageously to tbemselve* 
and the fountain. After removing the building which sheltered 
the spring they set about removing the rock or cone whole, upoi 
accomplishing which, contrary to general expectation, they dis 
covered that the cone had no direct or immediate connection witi> 
the rock below, but that the water was supplied by percolation 
through the intervening soil. They at once determined upon 
removing the soil quite down to the permanent orifice in the rocb 
below, and by supplying an artificial channel between that poinl 
and the surface, to reproduce that much desired spectacle of th« 
water once again bubbling up and and running over the crest of 
the cone. After passing through about seven feet of commingled 
muck and tufa, they came upon a layer of tufa about two feet 
thick, then a stratum of muck, then another stratum of tufa threo 
feet thick; through the muck were disseminated the trunks of 
large trees and pine and other forest leaves In profuse abundance 
— the concentric rings of the trunk of one of those trees I count-ed 
and found one hundred and thirty — those trees must have laif 
there for a long period of time before they became covered by th« 
increasing peaty deposit, for their upper surfaces were won 
smooth by the moccasins of the Indians, as they formed a con 
venient passage-way for them to the spring; and thus proceedinji 
through alternating strata of muck and tnfa down to the desired 
point, where an opening was reached which furnished a volume 
of water vastly superior to anything ever before witnessed at 
this place, and so great, even, as to affect materially for the time, 
the level of the springs in the neighborhood, some of them to the 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 19 

ejtent of quite two feet; thus exhibiting the fact that this is the 
main opening of all onr mineral waters at this point. A tube 
was then furnished, placed in position and properly secured, in 
which the mineral water rose several feet above the original sur- 
face of the rock or cone. Preparations were immediately made 
for replacing the rock back upon the vein of water, and after con- 
siderable labor and trial that purpose was accomplished, and 
water welled up through the orifice and overflowed the rock; a 
spectacle never before presented to the admiring gaze of a white 
man. 

Since then, as if by magic, there has started into existence a 
towering and capacious building, drest in the Italian style of 
architecture, designed for and adapted to the economic purposes 
of the proprietors of the spring. But the fountain itself has 
received an embellishment, which to be properly appreciated 
must be seen. A pavilion within a pavilion. The style of its 
architecture is that of the gothic, and most admirably adapted 
and proportioned in all its parts; the whole surmounted by a 
mosque -like dome which adds much to the exquisite beauty of 
the finish. The dome itself is surmounted by an embJem signifi- 
cant of the jealous care with which this fountain has ever been 
regarded, whether in the possession of the red or the white man. 

This point having been arrived at, and all the necessary prepa- 
rations completed to reproduce the overflow of the waters of the 
fountain, it was suggested that this was an appropriate occasion 
for a general convocation to witness and celebrate the event by 
the white man, as, in the long past, it was the practiof of the 
red man. Accordingly, on the 23d of August, 18GG (the same 
month in which the Six Nations used to hold their annual levees 
here), a national salute ushered in the day, and the busy note of 
preparation betokened the apprO||ching ceremonies. At 1 o'clock 
the venerable "Walworth, president of the day, with Stone, the 
orator, and invited guests, appeared in the forum. And citizens, 
and strangers from every part of the country, gathered in throngs, 
crowding the building and grounds to overflowing, to listen to the 
orations and to catch a glimpse of a phenomenon never before 
vouchsafed to a white man. The following report of the proceed- 
ings is copied from the Daily Saratogian : 



20 HISTORY OF 

After the speakers and iuvited guests bad ascended the staging 
erected for their use, Chancellor Walworth, president of the 
day, called the assemblage to order, and delivered the following 
interesting address: 

Ladies and Gentlemen : We are assembled at this time to cele- 
brate the successful achievement of two of the enterprising citi- 
zens of this town, Messrs. Ainsworth and McCaffrey. They 
have taken up this renowned ''Iligh Rock" from the argillaceous 
bed upon which it had probably rested for centuries, have explored 
the hidden aperture in the calciferous sand stone below the clay, 
through which aperture it received its healing waters, and have 
again restored it to its place; where, I trust, it is destined long 
to remain, the wonder, as well as the pride of Saratoga. And^ 
what is of far more importance to us, and to the people of tha 
United States generally, they have, by excluding the fresh water 
from this very ancient fountain of health, doubled the mineral 
strength of the medicinal waters of the High Rock Spring, and 
have thereby greatly improved their healing properties. And 
this spring is from this time to take its proper place as the oldest, 
and as one of the brightest of the stars in that splendid galaxy 
of sparkling medicinal fountains, which have already made Sara 
toga the most celebrated, as well as the best watering-place in 
the world. 

Many have supposed this rock to be of recent origin. And 
some assert that the healing waters have flowed out of its top 
subsequently to the commencement of the American Revolution. 
But «»ii «f them are unquestionably wrong. The top of this rock 
arose five or six f?e^ «^- lea-st, above the highest point of the bed 
of clay upon which tne rocs nad been formed by the gradual 
deposit of the mineral substances which had been chemically 
combined with the water; which water ebbed and flowed at short 
intervals, as you see it docs now. And geologists will tell you. 
that it required a very long time to form a rock of that height 
by such gradual accretions, before the water ceased to deposit 
new particles of mineral matter by flowing over the top of thifl 
rock. This High Rock Spring has been known to white men as 
a medicinal fountain, for about ono hundred years; and perhaps 



HIGH EOCK SPRING. 21 



bnger. Sir Tfilliam Johnson, who lived f /^J^^,«^*<>^y:/\^fg 
forfy miles to the west of it, and who died in July, 1774 was 
brought here hy the Indians a few years before his death, to par- 
take of its healing waters. In the fall of 1777, after the surren- 
der of General Burgoyne, and while our troops lay at P^l"l^;^°;r;' 
about six miles north of here, several of our officers visited ths 
.pring, which had then attained some celebrity, as one of those 
office?; has since told me. And it had for a long time before that 
been known to the Indians as " The Great Medicine Spring. 

When the mineral waters of this ancient spring, which are this 
day (by artificial means), made again to flow over the top of this 
rock ceased to flow over, is not known to any one now living^ 
But I will give you the information I have on that subject. I 
first visited Saratoga in the summer of 1812, fifty-four years smce^ 
The water in this rock was then about as much below the top of 
the rock as it was when I came here to reside, eleven years after- 
wards, I think eighteen or twenty inches, or perhaps a httle more. 
The late Major-General Mooers of Plattsburgh, who was an offi- 
cer of Colonel Hazen's regiment, at the taking of General Bur- 
goyne's army, was at my house, and visited this sp"ng with me 
ffew years p;evious to his death. He then told me that he with 
ether officers, came from Palmertown to this sprmg, in October, 
1777 And he said the height of the water in the rock was then 
about the same as it was when we visited it, sixty years there- 

after 

About forty-one years since, while holding a circuit court on 

the northern frontier of this State, I stayed over the Sabbath with 
a friend who resided a few miles from the Indian set lement at 
St Regis; and we attended the re'iigious services at the Indian 
church in their village. Between the morning and afte-o n ^^^^^ 
vices at the church, we went to the house of one of their chiefs 
uamed Loran Tarbel, with whom 1 had become acquainted during 
tr.y residence at Plattsburgh. He was then between eighty and 
n nety years of age, but was in health and in perfect menta^^vigor. 
Knowing that so^; of the St. Regis Indians had once resided on 
the banf s of the Mohawk river, I was anxious to learn what this 
aged chief knew in relation to this spring. But as he had a ven. 
imperfect knowledge of the English language, I spoke to his son, 



22 HISTORY OP 

Captain Tarbel, who bad an English education. I described the 
High Rock Spring, and asked him if he knew any thing about 
it. He said he had never been here, and had never heard of it. 
I then requested him to describe it to his father, and to ask him 
if he had ever heard of it. The moment he did so. the early re- 
collections of the venerable chief were aroused; and indicating 
by the motions of his hand the shape of the top of the rock, he 
said, '• Yes, Great Medicine Spring." 

He then told me, through his son as interpreter, that he was bom 
at Caughnawaga, on the Mohawk; and that he emigrated with 
his father to Canada several years before the revolutionary war. 
That, when he was a boy, the Indians living on the Mohawk were 
in the habit of visiting this spring and using its waters as a medi- 
cine. That when he was about fifteen years old, and shortly 
before he emigrated to Canada, he came here with his father to 
see the great Medicine Spring, I then asked him if the water 
flowed over the top of the rock at that time. He said it did not; 
that they had to get the medicine water by dipping it out of the 
rock with a cup or gourd shell. That there was then a tradition 
among the Indians that the medicine water had formerly flowed 
out of the rock at its top, but that it had ceased to do so for a long 
time before he came here with his father. He then gave me the 
Indian tradition as to the cause of the cessation of the overflow- 
ing of the water. The particulars of this tradition I can not 
repeat, in his words, in the presence of this audience; but the 
substance of it was that the Great Spirit, who had made this 
wonderful rock, and had caused the healing waters to flow from 
it spontaneously for the benefit of his red children, was angry on 
account of the desecration of its medicine waters in making so 
improper use of them by some of their squaws, who had visited 
the spring, and that the water never flowed over the rock after- 
wards. 

Such was the tradition of the untutored Indians, who knew 
little of geology or of hydraulics. But the true reason why the 
mineral waters ceased to flow out at the top of this rock, which 
had been gradually formed from their deposits, was probably this: 
These waters, in process of time, had found another outlet, per- 
haps at some considerable distance from here, and which outlet 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 23 

must have been something like twenty inches lower than the level 
of the top of this rock. For we now see that by tubing the min- 
eral fountain so that it can not escape from beneath, or in any 
otner way than through this natural orifice at the top of the rock, 
the present proprietors of the spring now cause its healing 
waters to flow out again, where they had ceased to flow for more 
than a century at the least. 

As the enterprise of these proprietors has thus secured the con- 
tiol of these waters, and has greatly improved their medicinal 
value, it is of but little importance whether the water is hereafter 
to be permitted to flow over the rock into artificial basins, or is to 
be drawn from within or from beneath it, or by other means, for 
public or private use. 

The whitening of the head of him who now addresses you, by 
the snows of seventy-eight winters which have fallen upon it, 
admonishes him to recollect that he can enjoy with you this 
valuable addition to our health-preserving mineral fountains, only 
for very a short period. Still I rejoice with you all at the success 
of this enterprise, because I believe it will greatly benefit others 
and be a source of health and enjoyment to the people of every 
section of our beloved country. I fervently pray, therefore, that 
th« healing and health-preserving waters of this now renovated 
spring, may long continue to flow from this thne-honored rock, or 
be drawn from it or beneath it, to benefit and bless my fellow men. 
And as the civil war, which has recently scourged this once 
happy country, has now terminated by the submission of those 
who attempted to separate states whose union the founaers of the 
constitution had declared perpetual, I hope and trust that Sara- 
toga hereafter may continue to be, as it was a few years since, a 
common center of attraction, where all the people of the glorious 
union, who desire to come hither for health or pleasure, can meet 
together as brothers and sisters of a common family, without 
disturbance from the withering curse of sectional agitation. For 
the God of Heaven and earth has decreed 

That never again shall our country have slaves, 

" While the earth bears a plant, or the sea roll ils waves.'" 

May we all remember that our Saviour has told us the bleesing 
of Heaven rests upon the promoters of peace and good will among 



24 HISTORY OF 

men, as contradistinguished from those who sow the seeds of 
discord and fan the flames of strife. And may the glory and the 
felicity of the re-united states of this great confederacy, over all 
of which the Star Spangled Banner now waves triumphant, con- 
tinue to increase with each revolving year, until the thundering 
Cotopaxi shall cease to burn, and the cloud-capped Chimborazo 
be sunk in the ocean. 

At the conclusion of the Chancellor's address the band struck 
up ''The Star Spangled Banner," after which the chairman intro- 
duced the Orator of the day, "William L. Stonk, Esqr., of Ne^ 
York, who pronouucad the following eloquent oration: 

"What song the Sirens sang, or what name Achilles assumed 
when he hid himself among women, though puzzling questions^ 
are not beyond all conjecture. "What time the persons of thes<i 
ossuaries entered the famous nations of the dead, and slept with 
princes and counsellors, might admit a wide solution. But who wera 
the proprietors of these bones, or what bodies these ashes made up 
were a question not to be resolved'by man. nor easily perhaps by 
spirits." Thus discoursed Sir Thomas Browne in his fearful essay 
upon Urn Burial, which he was led to write by the discovery of 
the celebrated urn in a "field of "Walsingham" more than two 
hundred years ago. Fortunately for the day and the occasion 
no such mystery now hangs over the wonderful masterpiece of 
nature, whose clustering memories we are here this day to recall. 
This spot, nevertheless, is consecrated ground. "We may here, 
figuratively at least, tread upon the dust of kings. How long 
were their line and their triumphs we cannot tell. Farther back 
than three hundred and fifty years, history herself is silent. Be- 
yond that time America herself was "one great antiquity-' buried 
in darkness of five thousand years. 

I have said that we were treading upon the ashes of kings. It 
is indeed a fact that the royal title was unknown in their own 
imperfect language. But in their rank, their order of descent and 
their manner of exercising power, they were sovereigns and their 
chief sachems kings. "Rude kings they were, it is true. Kings 
•who reveled not in voluptuousness, nor wasted their time amid 
the delights of the harem, nor degraded their manhood by plying 
the distaff like Sardanapolus. Nor yet were they of those wh< 



JIGH ROCK SPRING. 25 

sought immortality by rearing cities and palaces and solemn 
temples, like those of Thebes and Babylon and Tyre. They affec- 
ted not the graves of giants, nor yet sought to mark the age of 
their glorj' by the stupendous pyramid or the costly mausoleum." 
They were not of the common order of men, but a race proud and 
haughty — whose persons and characteristics were of mingled 
grandeur and gloom, and who, like the Fates of Grecian mythology, 
seemed born amid the convulsion of the elements, in cloud and 
storm. It is to this kingly race that we owe the priceless boon 
of the spring now before us. Help me, then, to lift with reverend 
hands the veil that, until now, has shrouded it in mystery. 

Recent investigations have established the fact that the medi- 
cinal properties of the "High Rock" were well known to the 
Iroquois Confederacy fully two hundred years before the prows 
of Jacques Cartier's vessels, in 1535, grounded upon the emerald 
shores of the St. Lawrenco. It was called by them, as my venerable 
and learned friend, who has just preceded me, has said, the '*Medi- 
cine Spring of the Great Spirit," under whose special guardianship 
it was supposed to be. There can be no question, moreover, 
that the water flowed over the rock during this period, since 
there is yet a well authenticated tradition that it was only when 
the Great Spirit had been seriously offended by one of the 
Mohawk tribe, that he manifested his displeasure by causing its 
flow to cease. Reticent, however, as the Indian race naturally 
are, the discovery of America had been made many years before 
it was first brought to the notice of the whites; and it is probable 
that it would have remained unknown for many years longer, but 
for a most remarkable series of events, which, under the guidance 
of an overruling Providence, brought its properties into notice, 
and gave to the New "World a Pool of Bethesda, for the healing 
of the halt, the lame, and the infirm. To show the wonderful 
manner in which this was brought about, is the object of him who 
now addres.ses you. 

The ''High Rock Spring" is deserving of more than the ordi- 
nary interest that attaches to the springs of Saratoga, not only 
on account of its being the greatest mineral curiosity on the globe, 
and of the superior character of its water, but because it was the 
first spring known to the whites in America. 



26 HISTORY OF 

The first man who visited it was Sir William Johnson, Baronet. 
Sir "William, under a commission of Major General from his 
Majesty, George II, defeated the flower of the French army, 
under Baron Dieskau, at the battle of Lake George, on the 8th 
of September, 1755. In this action he received a severe wound 
by a bullet in his thigh, from the effects of which he never wholly 
recovered, but was frequently subject to serious illness. At 
such times the wound, from which the ball was never extracted, 
became excessively painful, rendering him for weeks, after an 
attack, unable to ride on horseback or to endure any active exer- 
cise. Suitable medical attendance it was very difficult to procure, 
and it frequently happened that having exhausted the cont<;nts 
of his own medical chest, he was obliged to send to Albany, and 
sometimes to New York, for a physician. It was during one of 
these attacks, in the summer of 1767, that the Mohawks deter- 
mined, in solemn council, to reveal to their beloved brother, War- 
ra-ghi-ya-ghy, the peculiar medicinal properties of the '"Higb 
Rock." Nor, perhaps, could there have been any stronger proof 
of the affection in which he was held by these sons of the forest, 
than their resolution to give their brother the benefits of that 
which they had always sacredly guarded as the precious gift to 
themselves alone, from the Great Spirit. Accompanied by his 
Indian guides, the Baronet set out on his journey the 22d of 
August, and passing down the Mohawk from Johnstown in a boat, 
soon reached Schenectady. At this place, being too feeble either 
to walk or ride, he was placed on a litter and borne on the stal- 
wart shoulders of his Indian attendants through the woods to 
Ballston lake, which he reached the same evening. Tarrying 
over night at the log cabin of Michael McDonald, a Scotchman, 
who had recently begun a clearing in the vicinity, the party, 
three hours before sunrise, on Thursday, the 23d of August, 
17G7, plunged again into the forest; and following the trail of 
Indian hunters, along that which is now the road from Ballston 
to this village, came to the chief tributary of Lake Saratoga, the 
Kayaderosseras. 

In the gray dawn of that summer morning, along the green 
aisles of the primeval forest, the party silenty pursued their 
way. The moccasined feet pressed down the wild flowers in 



^ HIGH ROCK SPRING. 27 

w 

their path. Wheeling above with untiring wing, as it moving with 
and watching over the party, were several noble bald eagles, whose 
eyries hung on the beetling crags, affording to the invalid a pre- 
sage of health and happiness. Aloft the pine tree towered above 
a sea of verdure, and below the maple, whose virgin cheeks were 
not yet brazen with the paint of early frosts, modestly shrunk 
from the passing gaze. ''Old fir trees hoary and grim, shaggy 
•with pendant mosses, leaned above the stream," and beneath, 
dead and submerged, a 'fallen sycamore thrust from the current 
the bare, bleached limbs of its collossal skeleton. 

The sun was an hour above the eastern hills, when the startled 
deer saw the evergreens sway, and the Baronet's party emerge 
from the thicket. Their polished bracelets and rich trappings, 
glittering in the dewy foliage like so many diamonds, were in 
keeping with the cheerfulness visible upon each countenance — 
for were they not bearing their dearly beloved brother to the 
medicine spring of the Great Spirit? As the party emerge from 
the glade upon the green sward, they separate into two divis- 
ions, and, with gentle tread, approach the spring, bearing their 
precious burden in the center. Pausing a few rods from the 
spring, the Baronet leaves the litter; and, for a moment, his 
manly form, wrapped in his scarlet blanket bordered with gold 
lace, stands towering and erect above the waving plumes of his 
Mohawk braves. Then, approaching the spring, he kneels, with 
uncovered head, and reverently places upon the rock a roll of fra- 
grant tobacco — his propitiatory offering to the Manitou of the 
epring. Still kneeling, he fills and lights the great calumet, 
which, through a long line of kings, had descended to the re- 
nowned Pontiac, and taking a whiff from its hieroglyphic stem, 
passes it to each chieftain in turn. Then amid the profound 
fiilenceof his warriors, he for the first time touches his lips to the 
water; and gathering the folds of his mantle about him, amid a 
wild and strange chant raised by the Indians to their Deity, he 
enters the rude bark lodge which, with prudent forethought, his 
hraves had erected for his comfort, directly where this building 
DOW stands; and in this primitive hotel recVmed the first wh'ita man 
that had ever visited this spring. Yet while the sufferer lay on 
hla evergreen couch, did the fortunes of the (Jeneral whom he 
3 



28 HISTORY OP 

bad defeated twelve years previously , occur to him? Perhaps 
so; for by a singular coincidence, while the conqueror of Dieskau 
was prostrated amid these forests, where the wounds of both had 
been received, the French General was languishing on his deach- 
bed at a small town in the interior of France — 
"The paths of glory lead but to the g^ave." 

The Baronet had been but four days at the " High Kock/' 
when he received letters obliging him to hasten immediately 
Lome. Short as his visit was, however, the water restored his 
strength so far as to enable him to travel some of tne way to 
Schenectady on foot; and again taking his water carriage, he 
arrived on the 4th of September; at the Hall, to welcome his sou 
Sir John, who had just arrived from England. The popularity 
of Saratoga Spring, as a watering-place, may be saKi to date 
from this visit. " My dear Schuyler," writes the Baronet upon 
his return, to his intimate personal friend. General Fhilip Schuy- 
ler, " I have just returned from a visit to a most amazing spring, 
which almost eifected my cure; and I have sent tor Dr. Stringer 
of New York, to come up at once and analyze it.*' Accordingly 
when Schuyler effected a settlement on the banks of the Hudson, 
it was, undoubtedly, the remembrance of this letter that caused 
him in 1783, to cut a road of twelve miles throujth the forest to 
this spring and erect a tent, under which himself and his family 
spent several weeks, using the water. Hence it was that the 
fact of so distinguished a personage as Sir Willaim having been 
restored by the water soon became noised through the country 
Others were induced to make the trial; new springs were dis- 
covered ; and thenceforth the springs became the resort of those 
who were in pursuit of health and pleasure. For many years 
after its discovery, the '' High Rock" continued to be the resort 
of people from all sections of the country; and when other springs 
were found in the neighboring village of Ballston, the chief drive 
of the visitors was a romantic drive through the woods to the 
" High Rock Spring." The question will here very naturally be 
asked, if the High Rock was so celebrated, how did it happen 
that it has remained until this late day comparatively unknown? 

The answer is very simple. In April, 1826, the late proprietors 
of "Congress Spring" bought the former from Walton and Liv 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. . 29 

mgston, and kept it in the background. These proprietors, how- 
ever, having recently died, the spring was purchased from the 
heirs by its present owners, Ainsvvorth and McCaffrey. The 
object of these gentlemen in making the purchase was to bring 
the High Rock into such prominence before the public as its real 
value as a restorative demanded. Accordingly, no sooner had 
ihe sale been completed, than — as Reconstructions are all the order 
of the day — they resolved to "reconstruct" their purchase, and 
endea>ror, if possible, to cause the water again to overflow the 
rock. The project at first, as with " Reconstructions" generally, 
did Hot meet with public favor, as fears were entertained that 
Saratoga might be deprived of one of her greatest attractions. 
But in the face of numerous obstacles they persevered, and the 
result— of which you have visible proof to-day, has demonstrated 
the praciicability of their plan, and all the mysteries of the High 
Rock and its spring have been unveiled to the public gaze. A 
slight excavation showed that the rock only extended a few inches 
below the surface, and it was easily removed. "Within it was a 
chamber about two feet in diameter, and below a pit formed by 
the bubbling water, about ten feet in depth, in which were found 
a large number of tumblers lost m dipping the water. Around 
the cone, for an area of four hundred feet, the soil was found to 
be filled with two independent layers of encrustations or tufa- 
formed by the deposits of the water— one of tnem three feet in 
thickness, and the other two. Immediately beneath the rock lay 
the body of a pine tree, eighten inches in diameter, which still 
retained its form, and was sufficiently firm to be sawn in sections 
and pulled out. This tree must have fallen before the formation 
of the surface rock commenced, and had undoubtedly lain there 
thousands of years. For many years before the stalagmite for- 
mation of the cone hid it from sight, this tree — evidently placed 
there by design — was used as a convenient pathway to the spring, 
since the upper side of the log has been worn to a polished sur- 
face by the moccasins of the aboriginals. 

A very interesting question here arises. "What is the age of 
this remarkable fountain? The rock itself was formed, as you 
doubtless are aware, by the precipitation of minerals held in 
solution by carbonic acid gas. The rock or cone is four feet in 



30' HISTORY OF 

height. Now Dy counting the annual deposits of tufa, it is found 
that five of tlie yearly layers measure one-sixteenth of an inch. 
Hence eighty years are required to deposit a single inch, or nina 
hundred and sixty years for a foot. From this it appears thai 
the age of the rock from its first formation to the period when 
the water — having been forced by hydrostatic pressure into 
another outlet — ceased to overflow the rock, can not be less than 
four thousand years. And if to this be added the time consumed 
in forming the tufa, which is two thousand years more, we have 
six thousand j^ears, as near as geological investigation can deter 
mine, as the age of this mineral fountain itself — placed here bj 
the Almighty two centuries before he created man in his owi 
image — while darkness yet brooded over the face of the deep 
The excavation was continued about twelve feet, when it becamt 
evident that only a few inches more would bring to view th« 
crevice in the solid rock out of which this wonderful fountaiL 
unceasingly flows. The tubing is now fitted to the rock, so as U 
exclude all extraneous substances and confine the gases; and il 
is confidently believed that a superior mineral water has beei 
obtained, which will be available for commercial purposes. 

Thus is it that in the hands of its present owners the ambrosias 
nectar of the gods becomes a veritable fact, and the " elixir of 
life," sought for so many years in vain by the alchemists of old 
finds in this spring its realization. Upon this Rock, Hebe'ma^ 
break her cup, and, chagrined and discomforted, acknowledge 
that her vocation is at an end. Had the '' High Rock Spring" 
stood on the borders of the Logo d' Agnaus, the noted Grotto del 
Cani would never have been heard of beyond the environs of 
"Naples; while this fountain in its place would have been deserv 
edly celebrated in story, to the admiration of the world, as one of 
the greatest of curiosities .' 

It remains only to speak of the agency which the battle of Lake 
George exercised in bringing this spring into notice. Indeed, tho 
parallel that exists between the benefits which that action con- 
ferred upon our national and physical life is so striking, that a 
brief glance at it may not be omitted by those who read the hand 
of God in every event of life. The action of the 8th of Septem 
ber, 1755, so far as concerns the number of men engaged, wa» 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 31 

AOt a great battle; but when viewed in its immediate strategical 
resnits, it well deserves a prominent place among the battles of 
American history. *' The battle of Lake George," says the late 
Reverend Cortlandt Yan Rensselaer, in his admirable discourse 
upon this action, " is memorable in defeating a well-laid, danger- 
ous scheme of the enemy, and in saving the provinces from scenes 
of bloodshed and desolation. If Dieskau had succeeded in over- 
throwing Johnson in his intrenchments, his advance upon Fort 
Edward would have been easily successful, and thence his march 
to Albany would have been triumphant. The. conflagration of 
our northern settlements would have been followed by the deso- 
lation of Albany and Schenectady; and although Dieskau must 
have soon been compelled to retreat, it is impossible to estimate 
the bloodshed, plunder and general losses, which might have 
talien place had not God ordered it otherwise. The victory of 
Lake George undoubtedly rescued the province from injury and 
roe beyond computation; considered, therefore, in its immediate 
strategical results, the battle was one of the most important 
ingagements in American history. The battle of Lake George 
'« also remarkable for its influence in rallying the spirit of the 
American colonies. Much had been expected from the three 
expeditions sent against the French; but disappointment and 
sorrow had already followed Braddock's terrible defeat. All the 
provinces were amazed, awe-struck for a time, but recovering 
from the first siiock of the calamity, they were aroused to avenge 
their loss. 

'* Johnson's victory was received as the precursor of a recovered 
military position and fame, and was hailed as a means of deliv- 
erance from a bold and cruel foe. Few battles ever produced 
more immediate results in rekindling military and martial enthu- 
siasm. Congratulations poured in upon General Johnson from 
every quarter. Not only were the colonies filled with rejoicing, 
but the infiuence of the triumph went over to England, and the 
deeds of our fathers at Lake George became familiar to the ears 
of royalty, and were applauded by the eloquence of Parliament." 

But again. The battle of Lake George was furthermore 
memorable in its suggestions of provincial prowess, and its lessons 
of warfare to the colonies preparatory to their independence. 



32 HISTORY OF 

It is a mistake to snppose that Bunker Hill was the first school in 
which the colonists were taught their ability to struggle with 
veteran soldiers. It was at Lake George that this lesson was 
learned; and it is very doubtful whether the colonists would 
have dared to have taken the stand they did, had it not been for 
the lessons of the old French war. The battle was fought by pro- 
vincial troops, and chiefly by the sons of glorious old New Eng- 
land. The veteran regulars of old England had been beaten in 
the forests of Western Pennsylvania, or remained inactive in the 
^Niagara expedition. Through some unaccountable cause, th^ 
expedition, which was on the direct line of Canada, and nearest 
to the French reinforcements known to be at hand, was con 
signed exclusively to the care of native colonial soldiers; and 
bravely did they do their duty. On these shores provincial 
prowess signalized its self-relying capabilities; and in this battle 
and in this war the colonists practically learned the value of 
union. Putnam, and Stark, and Pomeroy came here as to a 
military academy to acquire the art of warfare, which tbev 
all exercised at Bunker Hill. George Washington himself, as a 
military man, was nurtured for America and the world amid the 
forests of the Alleghanies, and the rifles and tomahawks of these 
French and Indian struggles, Lake George and Saratoga, are 
continuous not merely in territory, but in heroic association. 

As this battle, therefore, was in a measure the source of our 
present national life, so, by leading indirectly to the discovery of 
this spring, it has been a source of renewed physical energy to the 
nation. One is but the correlative of the other. Sana niens in 
corpore sano is as true of the body politic, as of the body 
physical; and if our existence as a nation is preserved, it 
will be by keeping intact the mental and physical energiea 
of the people. "Soldiers," said Napoleon, on the eve of one 
of his battles, and in one of those bulletins with which he 
was wont to electrify all Europe. "Soldiers, from yonder 
pyramids', forty centuries are gazing down upon you!" But on 
the eve of the battle of Lake George, from far nobler and grander 
heights the Providence of God was looking down moulding and 
shaping its results for the benefit of mankind throughout the 
ages. "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, 



r 



HIGH ROCK SPRING 33 

cl*ar au crjstal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of 
the river, was ihere the tree of life, which bare twelve manner 
of fruits, and yeilded her fruit every month; and the leaves of 
Ihe tree were for the healing of the nations." 

Aware of the importance attached by the public, to every 
thing pertaining to this heir-loora which has come down to us 
from an epoch much earlier than our own, and the apparent 
mystery which hangs about the whole, I have been thus par- 
ticular in collating and presenting the chronological facts relative 
to this subject. Those obtained from the Chief of the Tusca 
roras are perfectly authentic, and, so far as I am aware, are 
«ntirely new to the civilized world. 

The white man's chronology, too, of this particular wonder 
of the world, has hitherto existed only in the form of musty 
title deeds, running through long periods of time, and held by 
Individuals residing in different and distant sections of the 
country. And it is confidently believed that this is the first 
iime in which a connected and continuous history of this remark- 
\ble fountain has ever been presented to the public. 



HISTORY OF 



THE HIGH ROCK CONGRESS SPRING. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 

The great number of cases annually treated by this water 
places its therapeutic properties beyond a peradventure. Ani 
those persons who once doubted its medicinal qualities, are nov 
convinced of its healing virtues, and are loudest in its pra4se. H 
should, however, be borno in mind, that as a medicine, it must 
be subject to the same general rules as other remedies. If ther* 
are diseases which it will cure, there are also maladies which ii 
will greatly aggravate. 

Therefore, a proper distinction should always be made befor«> 
using it as a medicine. It acts medicinally upon all the great 
depurators — the skin, the alimentary canal, the kidneys, the liver, 
are each subject to its therapeutic effects. But when it is desira- 
ble to have it act upon a given organ, or a particular class o{ 
organs, the potations should be varied in quantity and fre- 
quency, and such other influences brought to bear, as will secure 
the desired result. It therefore must be obvious to all refiectin^ 
persons, that only such persons as have made the water a special 
study, and watched its effects upon a great number of persons, 
can make the best use of it, and call to its aid the most appro 
priate adjuvants. Those persons then who wish to derive benefi(> 
from its use, should have a well considered plan, and not vary from 
it, unless for the most obvious reasons, 

CUTANEOUS DISEASES. 

Perhaps there are no diseases more troublesome to treat pro 
perly, than those of the skin. Their appearance often stronglj 
resemble each other, when their pathological conditions ar# 
widlely different, and hence, persons unacquainted with the varied 
features of skin diseases, are often greatly disappointed in tho 
reuslts which follow their prescriptions. 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 35 

Impetigo. — This disease when it attacks the face, the forearms 
and the lower extremities, and is attended by gastric and intesti- 
nal disturbances; or when the patient is of a strumous habit, 
this water internally used and locally applied, is followed by the 
happiest effects. The unseemly incrustations which follow the 
discharges constantly flowing from the diseased surface, its intol- 
erable itching, which so uniformly attends certain stages of its 
action, are happily cured by the water of this spring. 

Eczema. — This form of cutaneous disease is very frequently 
^en among the patients who annually resort to this fountain for 
'clief, and when a proper course of drinking the water is persisted 
fci, and baths of it have been freely and systematically used, the 
patients suffering from eczema have been invariably cured. 
Erythmatic eruptions . — When occuringon the back of the hands, 
the neck, the face, the breast, the arms, and attended by fever, 
lassitude, weakness, pains in the limbs, &c., &c., are relieved by 
bathing and drinking the water of this fountain. 

Syphilitic — These eruptions and other like diseases of the skin, 
•re mostly aided by bathing and drinking this water. And par- 
ticularly all diseases of the skin, where cleanliness is of great 
Importance in the treatment, and where there are acid secretions 
ia the stomach and bowels, the uses of this mineral water will 
produce a prompt and permanent relief. 

DERANGEMENT OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 

Gastric dyspepsia. — When this form of dyspepsia is attended by 
loss of appetite, nausea, thirst after eating, heart-burn, acid and 
putrescent eructations; a sense of weight at the epigastrium after 
meals, inability to digest oily, fatty, mucilaginous and saccharine 
substances; low temperature of the body, and the heat unequally 
distributed; countenance pale, eyes dull, listlessness in motion, 
and slow bowels, this water if properly used produces the desired 
relief. It is also useful in Irritable, gastric, and follcular gastric 
dyspepsia. 

Duodenal dyspepsia. — In dyspeptic derangements of the small 
intestines, which are sometimes attended by an impaired, and in 
others by a ravenous appetite, by difficult digestion, but which is 
not noticeable until an hour or two after meals; high colored 



36 HISTORY OF 

urine, and unnatural looking stools, are amenable to the water of 
this spring. 

Colonic dyspepsia. — Although it is a part of the lower bowels 
and is a receptacle for effete matter, yet its derangement often 
affects unpleasantly the digestive functions of the stomach and 
small intestines; and whether colonic derangements depend upoD 
atony or irritability, inflammation of its mucus membrane or dis 
eases of its mucus follicles, it deranges alike the digestion, and 
therefore, interferes more or less seriously with the nutrition of 
the body. "VVe, therefore, have dyspepsia of the stomach, the 
small and large bowels, and each part of the digestive tube ha> 
several kinds of dyspepsia belonging to it respectively, such a» 
acute, chronic and sympathetic; each of these conditions, there 
fore, require different application of the water, and each one i» 
materially bonefited by its use, when properly taken. 

KIDNEYS. 

The kidneys have been considered among the most important 
organs called vicarious or compensating; or those which possesi 
the power of temporarily fulfilling the oflSce of some other organ 
Thus when the insensible perspiration is suppressed, the aqueous 
matter of the body is often discharged by the kidneys. 

The urine is the most complicated of the animal secretions, and 
the most variable in its contents. It may contain water, phos- 
phate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, uric acid, urea, lactate 
of ammonia, sulphate of potash, sulphate of soda, chloruret of 
soda, chloruret of ammonia, phosphate of soda, phosphate of am 
monia, silex, extract soluble in alcohol, extract only soluble is 
water, mucus of the bladder, fluoric acid, benzoic acid, fluate of 
lime, albumen, gelatine, sulphur, and many other substances n(H 
necessary to mention in this connection. These different compound* 
are of course readily washed from the body by the mineral water 
if timely and appropriately used. And the morbid states of tht 
system upon which they depend, are also restored to a normal 
condition, by an appropriate use of the same remedy. 

MORBID STATE OF THE URINE. 

Of these we may mention, the aqueous, subaqueous, the 
lithic, the phosphoric, the purpuric, alluminous and saccharine. 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 37 

jj^ Aqueous urine. — When occurring in a nervous temperament 
vrith mental aberrations, low nutrition, or other like enfeebling 
symptoms, as well as advanced age, this water has proved emi- 
nently useful. 

Subaqueous urine. — In these cases the urine often bears off an 
undue proportion of nutritious matter, which ought on the con- 
trary to be applied to the uses of the body, and hence producing 
feebleness and premature decay. This state of the secretions 
may follow the use of too stimulating food, and especially vinous 
And fermented liquors. These aqueous discharges are cured, 
by bringing the functions of the skin, the liver and the lungs, to 
act normally as depurators, when the kidneys will soon command 
their normal secretions, and restore them to a healthy condition 
and, therefore, save the nourishment heretofore lost to the body. 
These desirable results may be materially aided, if not entirely 
relieved, by the water of this fountain. 

Lithic urine. — This urine is often loaded with sand and gravel 
and is greatly promoted by indigestion. The spring water is 
Tery efficient in washing these substances from the bladder, and 
from the renal passages generally, and also in restoring a healthful 
state of digestion, upon the derangements of which, this acid 
greatly depends. 

Phosphatic urine. — This state of the renal secretions is charac- 
terized by the presence of phosphate of lime, which imparts to 
the urine a whitish color when voided, and a deposit of a chalky 
substance, when the urine is reduced in temperature to that of 
the atmosphere. The state of the system most favorable for the 
productions of this acid, is an enfeebled constitution, impaired 
digestion and assimilation, diseases of the glandular system, and 
local injuries of parts contiguous to the kidneys. This acid enters 
largely into the composition of renal calculi, which often imposes 
fearful sufferings upon the unfortunate patients who chance to 
labor under the presence of stone in the bladder, and in other 
parts of the renal canal. The formation of this acid is often 
prevented by the timely use of the water of this spring. And 
its free use will often remove as large calculi as can pass through 
the uretal and urethral canals, as well as to remove the diathesis 
upon which the calculi depend. 



38 HISTORl' OP 

Purpuric albumine and saccharine urine. — These diseases &r*< i 
attended by inflammatory, dropsical and other deranged states ol I 
the system, which are wholly incompatible with the uses of th» 
water of this spring, and should never be used. 

Bloody urine. — In cases where blood flows from the kidneys, 
ui'etrus, or bladder, attended by constipation of the bowels and 
low nutrition, the warm bath and aperient draughts of this mia 
eral water have been followed by the most salutary effects. Ar 
soon as the functions of the skin are restored, and normal state* 
of the digestive organs are established, the hemorrhage ceases 
the urine flows with its former freedom, and the patient feels a» 
though he had entered upon a new and very desirable state 0/ 
existence. 

Hemorrhoids. — "When these are the result of constipation, se- 
dentary habits, hot rooms and a stimulating diet, this water used 
as a bath, as an injection, and as an aperient, the patient is readil; 
relieved from one of the most painful, unpleasant and loathsome 
diseases with which poor human nature is afflicted. 

HEPATIC DISEASES. 

The humoral pathologist who attached so much importance tt 
the composition of the bile, has served to fix in the popular mind 
the idea, that most human ailments are caused by the morbid 
actions of the liver. Hence a majority of those who annually 
visit Saratoga for the use of its mineral waters, do so with refer- 
ence to its effects upon the liver. With this class of persons. It 
matters not whether their livers secrete too much, or not bile 
enough; or whether their hepatic functions are perfectly normal 
or not, they are nevertheless bilious, and the liver is considered 
accountaole for all their aches and pains. But notwithstanding 
all these false charges against the liver, it is doubtless often 
deranged, which derangement, if functional, is within the medici- 
nal influence of this mineral water. Then again its morbid actions 
are frequently more or less dependent upon derangements of 
associate organs, the morbid actions of which are also happily 
within the curative influence of this water. 

Persons residing in fever districts, often have their livers and 
spleens enlarged and hardened. Such cases are most happily 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 39 

relieved by a judicious course of this mineral ^vater, drank at the 
^untain. 

SCROFULA. 

The condition of the system, which marks the early state of 
this fearful disease, is usually temoved by a timely and faithful 
use of the High Rock Congress water, but which if left to run its 
course, will surely end in feebleness and a certain early decay. 
Scorbutic persons, both young and more advanced in life, often 
witness large scrofulous tumors rapidly pass away under the 
Influence of this mineral water. And children, with characteristic 
ccrofulous features, exchange them for those of health, by a year 
<iT two residence at Saratoga, and a free use of this mineral water. 

FREE LIVERS. 

Perhaps there is no class of mineral water-drinkers, who enjoy 
^ 4 visit to Saratoga so much, or who realize so fully and so speedily 
I ihe benefits arising from drinking the water, as the class of per- 
sons named at the head of this section. 

They suffer from no organic lesions of the stomach, but rather 
Crom functional disturbance of the organ, arising from too much 
/ood . But when daily drinking the water, they are wholly exempt 
from all inconvenience arising from such surfeit not only, but can 
iise double the quantity of food and drinks previously taken, and 
. experience no inconvenience whatever from so liberal an ingesta. 
The acid products which would follow such free living under 
other circumstances, and which would be sure to produce sleep- 
less nights, with morbid, nervous and cerebral symptoms, are 
wholly prevented by the use of the water, and refreshing sleep, 
ong deferred, is fully enjoyed. So congenial is this mineral 
*ater to the stomach, that it will tolerate much larger volumes 
;)f it, than of any other fluid known. And when taken in suitable 
portions, it imparts a vigor to the stomach unknown to follow any 
other medicinal agent, while at the same time it corrects all acids, 
and prevents all putreflcation which so often attend the sleeping 
hours of the free liver. And such of this class as have become 
more or less diseased from liberal living, have their stomachs 



40 



HISTORY OP 



restored to a fair condition by this water, without being deprived 
of a good and full daily diet, during the time of treatment. 

When the water is taken in the morning, fasting, it removes 
without debility, the remnants of the previous day's food, and 
leaves the organs in a condition to act upon the next portion of 
ingesta which may be presented to them. Being thus unincum 
bered by the remnants of ingesta or the debris of worn-out tis- 
sues, they act promptly and efficiently upon larger quantities of 
food than would be possible for them under other circumstances. 
These desirable properties of this water will secure for it a ready 
and extensive sale abroad, and fill the town annually with thousand* 
of persons in search of good living, under the cognomen of health 



HIGH ROCK SPRING. 41 



HIGH ROCK. 



This rock gives name to the fountain which it incloses. It is 
conical in shape and rests upon the marl beneath the surface of 
the ground. It narrows quite rapidly as it rises above the sur- 
face, and terminates in a rounded top, in the center of which is 
a circular opening which leads to the cavity within. This opening 
gradually widens as the rock enlarges, leaving the walls of the 
rock of nearly equal thickness throughout, which gives a pyra- 
niidical space within the rock, not dissimilar in form to its exter- 
nal surface. The water is agitated by the escape of carbonic 
acid, which is constantly rising through it in large quantities, and 
Sowing over its sides into the brooklet at its base, from thence 
with the surplus water of the fountain, it passes away through 
the valley. 

The rock is composed of lime, magnesia, silica and other sub- 
stances, which are derived from the surroundings of the fountain, 
as leaves, twigs, shells, &c.; such of these substances as are held 
In solution by the carbonic acid of the water, are precipitated 
where the subterranean pressure is removed, and the temperature 
of the fountain is elevated. These at length accumulate, and 
with entangled twigs, leaves and shells, form this unique and 
world-renowned rock. 

The circumference of the rock at the surface of the ground is 
twenty-four feet and four inches; the diameter of the aperture 
four inches below the surface, is twelve inches; the height of the 
rock above the ground is three feet six inches; the depth of the 
spring from the top of the rock thirty -two feet, and the rock itself 
is what is known as calcarious tufa. 

This rock is justly considered one of the greatest curiosities of 
the world, and large numbers of persons annually visit it as the 
wonder of the country. The venerable Dr. Leman, in noticing 
this singular production, observes: ** The more we reflect upon it 



42 HISTORY OF HIGH ROCK SPRING. 

tbe more we must be confirmed of the important place this rock 
ought to hold among the wonderful works of nature. Had it 
stood upon the borders of the Lago d'Jlgnano, the noted grotto 
del cani, which burdens almost every book which treats upon car- 
bonic acid, since the peculiar properties of the air have been 
known, would never have been heard of beyond the environs of 
Naples, while this fountain in its place, would have been deserv- 
edly celebrated in story, and spread upon canvass to the admira- 
tion of the world, as one of its greatest curiosities. 



" Laboratory of the School of ^^INES, ) 
CoLUMiBA College, New York, Nov. 17, 1866. j 
Sir— I bave the honor to report the following results of th» 
analysis of the water which I collected at the High Rock Spring, 
in Saratoga, in August last* 

In one gallon of 231 cubic inches are contained— 

Chloride of Sodium 390.127 grains. 

Cliloride of Potassium 8.974 " 

Bromide of Sodium 0.731 " 

Iodide of Sodium ^ 0.086 " 

Fluoride of Calcium trace. 

Sulphate of Potassa ., 1608 " 

Bicarbonate of Baryta trace. 

Bicarbonate of Strontia „ trace. 

Bicarbonate of Lime 131.739 " 

Bicarbonate of Magnesia 54.924 " 

Bicarbonate of Soda „ 34.888 " 

Bicarbonate of Iron 1.478 " 

Phosphate of Lime trace. 

Alumina 1.223 

Silica 2.260 

Total 628 039 grains. 

Carbonic acid gas 409.458 cubic inches 

Respectfully yours, C. F. CHANDLER." 

By reference to the analyses of the various other minera) 
fountains of Saratoga, and comparing them with the above, it 
will be seen that the water of the High Rock Spring is not 
only a much heavier water, but that it also contains a very much 
larger number of cubic inches of carbonic acid gas per gallon. 



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